Themes: Women During Wartime, Crimes Against Humanity
Main Cast: Huguette Faget
Release Year: 1949
Country: PL
Run Time: 110 minutes
Plot
The Last Stop (original Polish title: Ostatni Etap) explores in excruciating detail the treatment of women inmates in the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. The film is nearly impossible to watch at times; surely, you'll try (but fail) to tell yourself, no civilized nation was capable of such bestiality. Most of the story is told from the point of view of Michelle (Huguette Faget), who finally escapes the camp, more dead than alive. The fact that the film was produced only a few years after Auschwitz was liberated adds to the gruesome immediacy of the tale. The Last Stop was written by Wanda Jakubowska and Gerda Schneider--both of whom were Auschwitz survivors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Among films on the Holocaust, Ostatni etap stands as one of the most emotionally devastating and shamefully overlooked. Director and co-writer Wanda Jakubowska was a survivor of Auschwitz, the cast and crew included many Holocaust survivors and, most incredibly, the film itself was shot at Auschwitz. The raw emotion that one would expect from such an undertaking is apparent on the screen, making the film feel more like a documentary than just another movie. The setting is the women's block at Auschwitz, where the internees individually and collectively do what is necessary for survival, all the while resisting their Nazi tormentors in small and large ways. The film repeatedly emphasizes the solidarity among the women prisoners. The women here are not passive victims, but continually fight against the Nazi leadership. Eugenia, Marta, Anna, and others are shown time and again defying German authority, and Jakubowska does not hesitate to show that such defiance is almost invariably met with unspeakable brutality. Jakubowska contrasts these models of heroism by alternating between scenes of starving, lice-ridden prisoners and scenes of Germans at elaborate social gatherings where they coldly debate how best to make the extermination of Jews more efficient. Jakubowska rarely spares the viewer, and some scenes are especially difficult to sit through: the murder of a newborn by the camp medical officer after he signs the death certificate for heart failure; the guard who deliberately shoots a prisoner, claiming she was trying to escape, and is rewarded with three days' leave; and a lengthy panning shot through a warehouse of confiscated belongings, including shoes, clothes, and valuables, as well as children's toys and artificial limbs. The realism is also enhanced by having the Russian, German, and Polish characters speak their own languages. Tragically, Ostatni etap has been largely forgotten by historians and is in desperate need of restoration. ~ Bob Mastrangelo, All Movie Guide
Cast
Huguette Faget - Michele
Barbara Rachwalska - Elsa; Alina Janowska - Dessa; Zofia Mrozowska - Cyganka; Aleksandra Slaska - Superintendent
